As soon as the Princess finished speaking, a wheezing laugh, like air leaking out, burst from the Crown Prince’s mouth.
“I see. Bringing that wench’s corpse to the Empress wouldn’t be so bad either.”
As if merely imagining that sight excited him, the Crown Prince’s smile deepened even further.
He grabbed Sir Siarkan’s shoulder firmly with one hand and whispered gloomily.
“Fine. If you insist on doing that, I won’t stop you anymore. Go ahead and scour the mountains all night looking for that wench.”
The Crown Prince forcefully patted his shoulder, then turned and walked away to the far side of the chaotic campsite.
Following after her younger brother, the Princess threw one neat remark toward her fiancé.
“Then, I’ll leave that child to you.”
***
Once the two members of the Imperial Family left, they immediately headed north.
Edrick gripped a torch in one hand and crossed through the forest, where the darkness lay thick and heavy.
He was terribly anxious, wondering if the traces left by the wyvern might have disappeared while they had been arguing for a short while.
“Be careful. At this rate, you’ll roll down into the valley too.”
The senior knight following close beside him, Sir Theoric Hart, whispered in a worried voice.
Edrick only gave a small nod without answering, then raised the torch to illuminate the uneven dirt path.
Then, between the straight coniferous trees, jagged rocks and a steep slope were revealed.
“Here it is.”
When he pointed to the steep downhill path, his superior, who had been silently following behind, approached like a shadow.
Edrick stepped aside so that he could look below.
After shining the torch down into the gorge for a moment, Varkas pulled out a chain with a hook attached from the pouch on his belt.
After firmly securing it in a crack between the rocks, Varkas threw himself down the slope, which was no different from a cliff.
Edrick stood holding the torch and shone it downward, and only after confirming that Varkas had landed safely on the ground did he follow him down the rock wall.
Fortunately, the valley was not very deep.
Edrick carefully climbed down the slope, stepping on the jagged protruding rocks, then raised the torch in his hand high to signal the knights who remained above.
Then the knights who had been waiting also began climbing down the rocks one after another.
After watching them for a moment, Edrick soon turned and looked around.
It seemed the impact of the wyvern’s fall had struck a wide area of the rock wall, for rocks and heaps of dirt were scattered everywhere.
Searching through all this debris would take a considerable amount of time.
Edrick swept his anxious gaze through the pitch-black darkness, then leaped over a large boulder.
After moving for a while along the uneven dirt path, he found a black shape rising beside a collapsed pile of rocks.
He shone the firelight on it closely.
‘Looks like we found it properly.’
As if grazed by fire magic, the carcass of a wyvern with one wing charred black and shriveled lay sprawled among the heaps of stone.
Edrick, who had been searching every inch of the surroundings in case the Princess was pinned beneath some part of the monster’s body, stopped when he saw a black shape standing tall a short distance away.
When he brought the torch closer, he saw Varkas standing beside a large rock.
Edrick ran toward him in a single breath.
“Commander! Did you happen to find anything.......”
Edrick, who had been shouting urgently, stopped dead when he discovered the pale, limp form lying before him.
The torch he had dropped weakly faintly illuminated the woman’s bloodless face and tangled hair.
Edrick stared down at her blankly, then let out a heavy sigh when he saw the large and small pieces of rock covering the lower part of her body.
He had known there was little chance she was alive.
It was a scene he had prepared himself for to some extent.
Even so, when he confirmed with his own eyes the woman’s horribly broken state, his blood seemed to run cold.
After hesitating, he approached her side with trembling steps.
Her upper body was relatively intact, but her legs were almost crushed.
Edrick examined her left leg, which was pinned beneath a large rock and twisted at a strange angle, then moved aside one sizable stone.
At that, the rocks piled beside it came crashing down.
Edrick’s face darkened with dismay, and he snapped his head up to ask for help.
Then he flinched and froze when he found a face so expressionless it seemed to be wearing a mask.
Varkas stood with his upper body straight, quietly observing the woman.
At the dry gaze, where not even a handful of emotion could be found, a chill ran down Edrick’s spine.
He knew that this man and the Second Princess were practically sworn enemies.
Still, was she not someone he had known since childhood?
Edrick could not understand how he could remain so calm even after seeing her in this state.
Edrick shouted as if protesting.
“What are you doing! Please help me quickly!”
But Varkas did not move in the slightest until the end.
Edrick glared at him with a surge of anger on his face, then rose to try moving the rock by himself.
Then, as he pushed with both hands against the rock that had crushed her leg, a sound like a small animal panting came from beneath it.
Edrick quickly lowered his head.
He saw the pale face revealed beneath the firelight distort ever so slightly.
For a moment, the strength left his legs, and he nearly collapsed.
Overwhelmed by intense relief, he shouted loudly.
“She’s alive! She is still breathing!”
As if responding to that sound, her thin eyelids trembled, and unfocused eyes were revealed.
At a glance, she seemed to be in a dazed state.
Edrick urgently straightened his back.
He had to get her healing magic as soon as possible.
He picked up the torch he had placed on the ground to call together the knights searching elsewhere.
At that moment, he saw a faint smile appear on the woman’s paper-white face.
“Varkas.......”
Without realizing it, Edrick stopped all movement.
A sound so indistinct it was hard to understand leaked from her cracked lips, where blood had gathered.
His eyes widened at the name that flowed out like a plea, and the man who had been frozen like a stone statue bent down in front of her.
As if recognizing that quiet face, the woman’s eyes stirred faintly.
They were eyes as if she had witnessed a single ray of salvation from the abyss.
“I knew it. I knew you would come to save me..... I knew it.”
When the woman’s eyes curved faintly, the tears pushed out by her thin eyelids soaked her bloodless cheeks.
The shadow of the fire flickered over the cool face of the man who was quietly looking down at her.
The firelight also glimmered over his empty eyes, where no trace of life could be found.
Yet the man still seemed sunk in some deep, dark place.
Edrick, who had unknowingly been holding his breath for some unknown reason, unconsciously grabbed his shoulder.
“Are… are you all right?”
Varkas raised his head and looked at him.
A faint wrinkle formed between his handsome brows.
It was an expression that seemed unable to understand why he was asking such a thing.
Edrick himself did not know why he had asked that question either.
Why had this man looked as though he was not all right?
As he looked with confused eyes at that calm face, no different from usual, the sound of busy footsteps came from somewhere.
Only then did Edrick come sharply back to his senses and hurriedly raise the torch.
Several knights who recognized his signal rushed over.
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